This show was 180 degree turn from the previous night's desultory performance in Harrisburg.

It was rainy.

The band came prepared to play, maybe to make up for the night before, which was the worst show I ever saw (even worse than anything in 1995).

At the end of the show the chick who drove us lost her car keys.

This is a decent show, but not SPAC 1983 for sure. Other than Hell in a Bucket, this was almost a 1981 setlist.

Happens to be my favorite Wharf Rat too.
Love the delay on Jerry's vocals.
Also check out the distinct Last Time tease out of Satisfaction.
Which would not be played until 2/25/90

Spin it for the China Doll Highlight

I was at this show. Never forget the rain, the energy, and the China Doll. Even 30 years later, after countless listenings, the first 60 seconds of this China Doll gives me goose bumps and raises the hair on my neck. Thank you, Jerry.

odd opener, at least for the time.

He sounds almost Christopher Squire-ish.
1984 gets a bad rap due to how bad Jerry often looked. But banish the image of the bloated, strung out cadaver on stage and listen to the music play. And how.

Great China Doll

Check out the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Google Images for some great pictures of this very cool venue. I can only image what a Dead show would be like there. Having listened to them all, I would recommend every show the boys played there, especially this night. Jerry, Brent, and Phil are over-the-top hot during this show, as is Bob and the drummers. Yes, '84 was a rough year for Jerry, but man he could play.

web.archive.org/web/2im_/http://images.gdao.org/view/image/ark%3A%2F38305%2Fg4h70f6f%2Fis%2F1" alt="ark%3A%2F38305%2Fg4h70f6f%2Fis%2F1" />

>Michael - Post that footage to youtube! Please!

The wife and I stayed at the Pine Breezes cabins a mile or so from the venue. Shot Super-8 sound driving around the parking lot the day before, and filmed more at the concert. With 50 foot rolls of film I had to change rolls quickly, so got a lot of the shorter songs. rained like hell the whole time. Jerry at the height of his badness, but he played great. Just recently had the footage transferred to DVD.

My friend and I camped in the parking lot the night before the show. A very festive atmosphere. Musicians, drum circles, bonfires, and Deadheads were everywhere. The show was wet but wonderful. Only my 2nd or 3rd show and my first experimental show. Bikers raided the parking lot during the show and stole anything not locked in the car. We lost our tent but they didn't see our cooler. Long uncomfortable night sleeping in the car. All worth it. I just saw Dyaln, MMJ, and Wilco at SPAC. I was flooded with great memories of this show.

The first set is pretty standard but the second set has some really great stuff. The bridge between Playing and China Doll is very unique with Phil playing an honest to goodness solo at it's start. Unfortunately Jerry and Bobby sound pretty worn out vocally, but their playing is great.

Now this is where its at. This is just flat out AMAZING the sound is off the charts.I had more fun at other shows during this summmer but its now 29 years later and this is the way the band sounded.Clean and POWERFULL I love this web site getting ready to drive to Boston and this has me pumped up beyond belief. Thank you for your time and effort you put into these recordings.We are so very lucky to have a form like this.

to come back later

A good tight show. If you can't stand hiss stay away from this. Otherwise the sound is perfect as per typical C Miller remasters.

I was lucky enough to see all of the shows the boys did at SPAC.dancin done old school with three part harmony. this is before phil had his own mike again,so jerry and phil sung harmony sharing jerrys mike like the beatels did it was very cool.its the only time ive seen that.also someone gave me some liquid LSD being a glutton i took two drops he warned me that one was enough he was right.wow i was nice for 14 hours cleanest L ive ever had, thanks who ever you were.

Band is on fire!

i missed my ride from harrisburg pa. it was raining and i had a head full of blotter at the holiday inn. was this show fun?

from finally hearing clearly what I missed while searching for a ticket!

I'm giving 5 stars because this show rocked. The energy level was incredibly high, and as the many comments for this show attest, that energy was all throughout the crowd as well.

This SBD is great. It mixes in a little crowd noise at appropriate times. Thank you for treating this as the historical document that it is, and allowing it to exist in the free public domain!

Finally. Here we have a relatively clean board of this nastiest of shows. Unfortunately, most of the first set is patched with the Nak. aud (see notes) but it is the second set where the fireworks go off. This may be be the grungiest Playin' jam post retirement. If you like the 83-85 juiced era this will not let you down.